Tuesday October 25, 2011

Meek's Cutoff- To be fair, I have been working on this movie for about a week now, in between class and other things. But I finished it today, so that's when I'll make my opinion on it. The first few minutes are kind of unbearable, but for people who crave the west, I'm sure staring at shots of the Oregon Desert will be all you need to fill your odd shaped belly. But for people like me, we're gonna need something else to settle the meal. I'm going to stop with that metaphor. Throughout the film, I wasn't really involved in any character whatsoever besides Stephen Meek (and that's just because he has a fine shaped beard). The cast is great, but it seems wasted when you see them mostly doing everyday 1845 stuff like washing clothes or drinking water. Sure. It's realistic. But hey! It's not interesting. But don't worry, by the halfway point it starts to get there. It's a unique film that portrays the times and difficulties of the Oregon Trail (Yes, this is basically like the computer game, The Oregon Trail: The Movie). My biggest problem is that it never really gets to that big thrilling moment you want it to. It's like a snapshot picture of a family left at a museum. You know there's a story behind them, but is it really worth telling?



Funny Games (1997)- To be fair, here's some insight. I had seen Haneke's 2007 version of 'Funny Games' when it was originally released and thoroughly hated it. Somewhere between the (SPOILER) murdered child and long a** 10 minute shot of the parent crying on the floor, I gave up on any point it was trying to make.

But maybe I wasn't prepared for it. Maybe I expected an american hollywood horror film, where the heroes are victorious (except for the abrupt sequel endings), and there isn't a strong message to be found. That's the schema of facts that brought me to such hatred for this vicious film. But somehow, instead of being the story written by a sadistic man to inflict pain on viewers (the remake), this (original) version became the story of a sadistic man writing to point out that everyone in the world is just as sadistic as him. I can't quite agree with that message, but at least I got the point this time around. It's truly funny, that I've come to this belief, since they are the same film, shot for shot, line for line. Maybe I have to watch the remake again. I did watch it with a lack of expectation, so one can understand my shock in initial viewing. It's a provocative film. It gets you talking and asking questions. It gets you thinking. I guess thats good. That first viewing, I guess somehow, something got lost in translation.



- Jeff Bassin